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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28644492">Where'd All the Time Go?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hello_yue_here/pseuds/hello_yue_here'>hello_yue_here</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Big time angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Aang/Katara, Minor Bato/Hakoda (Avatar), Minor Mai/Zuko, No Smut, Past Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Pining, Protective Sokka (Avatar), Tags May Change, Yue (Avatar) Lives, ehhhh not rlly, no beta we die like jet, platonic sokka/zuko, rated T for cursing but that's ab it no smut at all, single dad sokka, sokka is going through it, they're best buds okay, varrick is sokka's son</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:01:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,309</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28644492</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hello_yue_here/pseuds/hello_yue_here</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>She stepped forward once more, her head beginning to spin. There was no way she could actually be… </p><p>Back? Alive?</p><p>Home?</p><p>She felt her heart beat faster than a buzzard-wasp’s wings, her breath becoming more and more unsteady. She inched closer to the pond to see if the two fish were circling each other as if nothing had ever changed between them. As if their dance had never been interrupted.</p><p>She looked to the pond and saw exactly that. She also saw that her stark white hair was a rich, deep brown. She no longer had the moon spirit’s blessing.</p><p>The world began to spin, the air felt stifling, and Princess Yue, Saviour of the Moon Spirit and Protector of the Northern Water Tribe collapsed face first into the pond.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sokka/Yue (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>55</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello everyone! welcome to my first fic, I still don't really know how this all works, but I'm trying! </p><p>I've got the first 4 chapters written already and I have many many more planned, this is gonna be a biggie.</p><p>enjoy!</p><p>Title from the song "Where'd All the Time Go?" by Dr. Dog, give it a listen!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <span>“The time has come my child…”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The voice came from all around, filling her ears with it’s soothing tone. For the first time in her celestial life, she has heard something other than the sounds of her own thoughts. She did not know how long it had been since her sacrifice; she spent most of her life with the moon at rest in her celestial body. At peace.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tui? Is that you?” she asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Time has healed me…” </span>
  </em>
  <span> the voice grew stronger, yet still remained kind, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“You have saved me at the time when I needed you most…” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She could see the stars from her place among them. She looked down and spotted a white fish floating in the space around her ankles. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t understand,” she asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She felt different. Solid. The last time she took her a human form had been when the young Avatar was adrift at sea… but that was because she had to save him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Why was she taking her human form now?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“It is time for you to return, my blessed child.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>~~~</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was a flash of blinding light.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then nothing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No voice. No stars. No fish gliding around her feet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But she could feel something soft beneath her body. Something she hadn’t felt in what felt like eternity.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Grass.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She blinked a couple of times before completely opening her eyes. It was dark out, the only light coming from the moon.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wait a minute. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>The moon?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>she</span>
  </em>
  <span> the moon now? She scrambled to her feet and looked down at herself. She was wearing the same outfit she had when she first left this earth. The outfit she wore when she bid farewell to Sokka. Her flowing satin garment felt heavy on her person. Why was it so heavy?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Because it’s real now, </span>
  </em>
  <span>she thought. </span>
  <em>
    <span>It’s solid.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looked up from her dress to see where Tui had deposited her. She recognized it immediately. The icy walls delicately carved with intricate water tribe designs, towering over the oasis. A small pond directly in front of her. She stepped closer to inspect the fish, to see if she really had been returned home and that this wasn’t some strange hallucination.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As she stepped forward her foot brushed against something cold. Beneath her bare feet was a small plaque.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“The location of Yue’s Sacrifice. Long may our princess protect us.”</span>
  </em>
  <span> it read.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She stepped forward once more, her head beginning to spin. There was no way she could actually be… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Back? Alive?</span>
  <em>
    
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Home?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She felt her heart beat faster than a buzzard-wasp’s wings, her breath becoming more and more unsteady. She inched closer to the pond to see if the two fish were circling each other as if nothing had ever changed between them. As if their dance had never been interrupted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looked to the pond and saw exactly that. She also saw that her stark white hair was a rich, deep brown. She no longer had the moon spirit’s blessing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The world began to spin, the air felt stifling, and Princess Yue, Saviour of the Moon Spirit and Protector of the Northern Water Tribe collapsed face first into the pond.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. I got to get my feet back on the ground</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>welcome back, i posted the prologue and first official chapter all in one night because hey why not.</p>
<p>enjoy!</p>
<p>Chapter title from "World Turning" by Fleetwood Mac</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Varrick, I’m really sorry bud, but I can’t go play detective with you right now. I still have a lot left to do before the festival begins tonight. I promise you that the second I finish my speech I’ll play  with you and cousin Bumi as much as you’d like, okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But daaad!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Varrick </span>
  <em>
    <span>please</span>
  </em>
  <span>. I don’t have time for this right now-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You never have time to play anymore!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Varrick-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wanna play dad! I wanna play! I wanna play! I wanna PLAY!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Normally Sokka would never raise his voice at his son, his pride and joy. But tonight was the 10th anniversary of Yue’s death, and Suki had been gone for almost a year now, and frankly, Sokka was </span>
  <em>
    <span>exhausted</span>
  </em>
  <span>. And the more Varrick whined, the more Sokka just couldn’t deal with it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Varrick, </span>
  <em>
    <span>STOP!”</span>
  </em>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Varrick looked at his father with wide, glassy eyes. Sokka immediately rushed from the desk he had been looking over his speech at to kneel at his son’s side. The second he yelled ‘stop’ he regretted it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>If only I had your patience, Suks. </span>
  </em>
  <span>he thought to himself for what felt like the millionth time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry bud, I didn’t mean to-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Varrick’s expression was angry and hurt, and before Sokka could finish apologizing he yelled: “I hate you! You’re the worst dad in the world and I hate you!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka had dealt with Varrick’s tantrums before, but ever since Suki passed they’d been more and more frequent. He knew his son didn’t hate him and he </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew</span>
  </em>
  <span> that he was a good father, but hearing Varrick say those words still broke his heart.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Varrick ran out of the room, and Sokka was about to follow him before he heard Suki’s voice in his head saying </span>
  <em>
    <span>You’ve gotta let him breathe for a second, Sokka. Let him calm down before talking to him again</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He can remember how she would sweetly press a kiss to his cheek and ruffle his hair before telling him that he was an amazing husband and father. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He really wished she could be here right now to remind him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka returned to his desk and looked out the window to the full moon. For some reason Yue was only shining half as bright as she normally would, but maybe that was just Sokka’s hurt feelings talking. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Got any advice for me Suks?” He waited for a second, and as usual, the moon never replied. “No? Nothing to help your dear old husband? Fine. How about you Yue? Anything?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nothing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I see how it is, the two of you are ganging up on me aren’t ya? I hope the two of you are having fun up there without me,” Sokka sighed, “I miss you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After Suki had been- after Suki died- Varrick asked Sokka where mommy went. He tried his best to hold back his tears as he told his son the story of his friend who went to live on the moon. He failed to hold back his tears as he told his son that his mom had gone to live on the moon too. He held onto Varrick as tightly as he could when Varrick asked if Sokka was going to live on the moon as well. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not going anywhere, Varrick. Not for a long time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka had imagined Yue taking Suki up to the moon with her, so they could both protect Sokka and Varrick from afar. It comforted him to know that maybe they were looking after him as he continued living life without them. In the early days after Suki’s death he wished he could’ve joined them, but he had to stay strong for Varrick. Ever since it’s been the two of them against the world. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka straightened his speech and his notes for the opening ceremonies of the festival. He had been working so hard for the past week on finding the right words, and he was still editing an hour before the ceremony. He finished organizing his papers and went to track down Varrick who was probably curled up on his bed, face to the wall, just as Sokka had always done when he was upset as a child.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He entered Varricks room to find that it was completely empty.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Varrick?” Sokka said, “I’m sorry for yelling earlier bud, do you wanna come out from wherever you’re hiding and talk to me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No response.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka’s worry levels began to rise, Varrick was probably just hiding under his bed ignoring Sokka. Sure, he’d never done something like that before, but that’s a thing kids do when they’re upset right? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka checked under the bed, and there was no Varrick to be found.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“C’mon Varrick this isn’t funny, please come out and talk to me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Still no response.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Varrick had left Sokka’s room not even 2 minutes ago. Where could he have possibly gone? Sokka frantically searched every inch of the apartment-like suite where he and Varrick stayed whenever they visited Arnook and the Northern Water Tribe. Sokka typically loved the deluxe treatment he and his son had whenever they visited considering he and Katara were war heroes and both in training to potentially take over as chief one day (neither one of them knew if or when they wanted to be chief, but both decided to train for it anyways). But right now, Sokka hated the deluxe suite. There were too many hiding spots, too many places to check.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And every single spot was empty.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Varrick had left the suite.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Varrick was 5 years old, he wasn’t allowed to go anywhere without telling his father.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka had royally fucked up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yue woke up to the sound of a small child yelling in her ear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why are you in the pond?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She startled and quickly removed herself from the pond. She looked at the child.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was short, with a bit of baby fat on his tan cheeks, and he wasn’t wearing any mittens. He had fluffy brown hair that met his chin that was styled half-up in a traditional wolf-tail, and his blue eyes glittered in curiosity as he stared at Yue who was still halfway into the pond.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why were you in the pond? You’re pretty. Will you play with me?” The question sounded very pleading, and Yue had trouble not giggling at the child’s polar-puppy dog eyes. They reminded her of the same polar-puppy dog eyes that Sokka gave her when he asked her to ‘do an activity’ when they first met.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I fell in,” Yue said simply. The young boy’s face twisted in confusion.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I- uh, I tripped.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then why were you sleeping in the pond?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This kid sure did have a lot of questions. Yue wasn’t quite sure how to explain to a- 5? 6?- year old little boy that she used to be the moon and now she wasn’t anymore, so she decided to play it simple:</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I was tired,” she replied.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The little boy shrugged as if to say </span>
  <em>
    <span>Okay, that’s cool</span>
  </em>
  <span>, before asking her to play with him again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Before I play with you, I have a few questions to ask,” She said as she sat down criss-cross in front of the boy. It was slightly uncomfortable due to her wet garments but that was a problem for later. Right now she was concerned about where this child’s parents were. Still, she sat with him, and his eyes seemed to light up at the fact that she hadn’t said no to playing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay. I’m really smart so I can answer </span>
  <em>
    <span>aaaalllll</span>
  </em>
  <span> of your questions,” the child said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sure you are,” Yue replied seriously, trying not to laugh at his very energetic personality, “Alright first question: What is your name?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m Varrick!” He said, “Next question.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How old are you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Five-and-a-half.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why aren’t you wearing any mittens?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I couldn’t find them.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright Varrick, where are your parents?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Varrick visibly deflated at that question, but he answered anyways, “My mom is on the moon with dad’s old friend.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Varrick continued to speak, but Yue was sucked into her own thoughts. The child in front of her was energetic, smart, and had the same polar-puppy dog eyes as Sokka. The child in front of her had a father who was apparently friends with the moon.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yue couldn’t help but think that this had to be Sokka’s son.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“-and he’s really mean and he never plays with me and I hate him!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yue blinked back from her own thoughts as she caught the last of Varrick’s ramblings.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hate who?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My dad, duh,” Varrick seemed a little bit more calm after his tiny rant, but still pretty upset with his dad.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Despite only knowing Sokka for a few weeks, she knew that he would </span>
  <em>
    <span>never</span>
  </em>
  <span> turn out to be a bad father. She tried thinking again of people who would be considered her friend.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taktuq was always good friends with her, but he was too nice as well. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hahn? She wouldn’t be surprised…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, one last question:” Yue looked at Varrick with a conspiratorial grin. She wasn’t sure of many things right now. She wasn’t sure how long it had been since she gave her life to Tui. She wasn’t sure of where this child’s father was, or even if he cared that his son was missing. She wasn’t sure of how she would explain to her entire tribe that she was no longer the moon spirit. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But she was sure of one thing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She needed a distraction. And playing a little game with Varrick seemed like the perfect distraction.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you wanna play?”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I feel like I'm gonna end up being rlly mean to Sokka in this fic just a fair warning. I'm gonna make sure he gets his happy ending tho don't worry. </p>
<p>next update should probably be on January 16th!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. yesterday's gone, yesterday's gone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sokka spirals, Katara comforts, Yue solves a mystery, and Varrick just wants to play a game.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>No TW for this chapter! im little iffy about this one, but overall I'm still proud of how it turned out. Thank you guys for your nice comments and kudos on the last chapter it means a lot!</p>
<p>Enjoy &lt;3</p>
<p>(chapter title from "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac (if you haven't noticed all of my chapter titles are gonna be from Fleetwood Mac lol))</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Katara!” Sokka shouted as he burst into her room. Katara looked up from the scroll she was reading- it was actually a very interesting scroll too, very rude of Sokka to interrupt her reading time- to see her brother in a panic. His wolf-tail had come halfway undone, as if he had been raking his hands through it repeatedly. His eyes were wild and darting from side to side as he looked around the room for something. Normally this wouldn’t concern her; Sokka lost things all the time. But he’d never gone into a full blown panic like this before.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara put aside the scroll and left her oh-so comfortable bed with it’s plush furs and fluffy pillows…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Sokka better have lost something important because he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>severely</span>
  </em>
  <span> cutting into Katara’s much needed relaxation time. It was her last hour alone before she had to reconvene with Aang and Bumi before the festivities began.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sokka, calm down,” Katara said as she approached her brother, he was at pacing-levels of panic now. The last time Sokka was at pacing levels of panic was right before the Day of Black Sun.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Have you seen Varrick? I can’t find him anywhere,” He looked into his sister’s eyes with a pleading look.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oh, okay. So he actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span> have a very good reason to be interrupting Katara’s relaxation time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No he’s not in here Sokka. When was the last time you saw him? What happened?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka sat on the edge of Katara’s bed and placed his head in his hands. She could tell by the way that his palms were slightly digging into his eye sockets that he was trying very hard not to cry. He took a shuddering breath, and then another. Finally he folded his hands together and pressed them towards his mouth, clearly trying to gather his thoughts.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He’s upset with me right now ‘Tara,” Sokka began, “I’ve been so busy lately with the preparations and the caterers and the decorations and meeting with Arnook and my goddamn speech that I just can’t figure out the right </span>
  <em>
    <span>fucking</span>
  </em>
  <span> words for that I haven’t had any time to just hang out with him lately, and all he’s wanted to do all day was play detectives with me, and I was too caught up in my own bullshit to take even a ten minute break and then I snapped at him and he ran off yelling about how I’m the worst dad in the world and how much he hates me and right now,” he stops and takes another shaky breath, “right now he’s got a point with the whole worst dad in the world thing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sokka-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Katara, I’ve been a mess since Suki died, you know this. Varrick knows it too. I’m nothing without her.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara looked at her brother closely for the first time since he entered. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All her life, she viewed her brother as this impossible being. He was silly and sarcastic, but never failed to be stoic and serious and </span>
  <em>
    <span>commanding</span>
  </em>
  <span> when he needed to be. He was proud and resilient, yet his head was filled with thoughts of self-doubt and inferiority. She knew that he worked twice as hard as anyone else just to prove that he was capable of being a fearsome warrior without bending. She would never admit it to him out loud (yes she would) but he was the strongest and most powerful person she had ever met. It constantly puzzled her to see how her brother, with all of his charm and charisma, all of his tact and wit, all of his kindness and love, was weighed down by such heavy feelings of sadness, guilt, and insecurity. It pained her to see her brother picture himself in a way that no one else thought to be true. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After meeting Piandao, she noticed his confidence grow from a mask to hide his flaws, to the real deal. She saw him grow to believe that he truly was important and special, and as he and Suki grew older and fell in love, his pride in himself and his family only grew. For the longest time he saw himself the way she saw him, and as much as she would joke about his ego, she was still so proud of him that he finally got to where he was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After Suki died, his mask returned. The light and energy left his eyes. The man who Katara revered as the sun, with his endless smiles and life, had left. His mask was different than before. Instead of hiding his shame and self-doubt, he hid his sadness. He constantly acted as if he was fine, and never failed to ensure that Varrick was being cared for and that Varrick was happy, but in his efforts to provide for his son, he neglected to take care of himself. Katara saw the blank expression in his eyes as he faked his smiles. Katara watched as he sparred less and less. Katare noticed how his eating habits went down the drain. Katara was the one to call him out on it, and Katara was the one who dealt with his new closed-off demeanor and ill-temper. She would push him to take care of himself, and he would snap at her for babying him. She knew that he didn’t intend to be harsh, and she knew that he grieved by repressing his emotions, but it still hurt her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He slowly began to care for himself again, and she was so proud that he accepted her help. He cried to her and allowed her to help look after Varrick on days when he needed time alone. He still had a long way to go, but Katara knew he was trying.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Right now, she could see him descending into his spiral of self-doubt again. He couldn’t make eye contact with her, but she saw the dark bags under his eyes. They were much better than they used to be, but they never truly disappeared. His shoulders were slumped and his legs were shaking. For such a strong and large looking man, Sokka looked so small to Katara in this moment.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She couldn’t let the mask return.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sokka, listen to me. You are </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> a bad father, not at </span>
  <em>
    <span>all</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Varrick’s just upset, he’s nearly six years old, Sokka, he doesn’t even know what it means to hate someone, and he would </span>
  <em>
    <span>never</span>
  </em>
  <span> hate you. You’ve given everything to that boy and he may not know hate, but he does know love, and he knows it because of you,” She paused to see if her brother would react, but he continued to avoid her gaze. She sighed and continued on.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“One of these days you’re gonna get it through that thick skull of yours, but for now let’s just focus on trying to find Varrick, yeah? What happened after your argument?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka sighed, stood, and began to pace slowly as he recounted the next part of the story. He began to look his sister in the eye again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I thought he had just run off to his room like he </span>
  <em>
    <span>always does</span>
  </em>
  <span> and I was trying to give him a minute so he could calm down and, honestly, so I could calm down too. But now he’s not in his room and he’s not here and it’s been too long now so he could be anywhere, and knowing his imagination and the fact that he’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>my</span>
  </em>
  <span> son could mean that he could be anywhere in Agna Q’ela right now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara makes her way over to Sokka and braces his shoulders. “Alright we’re gonna we are going to inform Arnook of what’s going on and we are going to find your son.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She pulls him up off the bed and into a hug, Agni knows he needs one. Sokka doesn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around his baby sis and squeeze her just as tightly as she’s squeezing him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka has his head buried into her shoulder, which is an impressive feat considering he’s a full head taller than her at this point, but she hears a muffled “thank you ‘Tara” before they release and set off to find Varrick.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If we’re detectives, don’t we need a mystery to solve?” Yue asks Varrick. So far he has described in excruciating detail about how they must be </span>
  <em>
    <span>super-duper sneaky</span>
  </em>
  <span> so no one knows that they know what they know.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> (What they know? Yue does not know. Varrick won’t tell her what clues they’re supposed to be looking for yet). </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He has told her that they have to look </span>
  <em>
    <span>everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE pretty lady</span>
  </em>
  <span> for clues so they can solve the mystery </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Yue asked him if he wanted to know her name and he said “no pretty lady suits you.” Maybe it is Sokka’s kid, he’s quite good at flattery). </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh right! I forgot the mystery! You pick because this is your first time playing,” Varrick says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yue leaps at the opportunity to use this game to help Varrick find his way home. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think we should solve the mystery of your missing mittens,” Yue supplies. If there is one thing a five-and-a-half year old needs when living in the North Pole: it’s mittens.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s so boring! That means I have to go back home but I don’t wanna go home yet!” Varrick countered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How about we also solve the mystery of where I can get some new clothes as well. I’m not exactly dressed for cold weather, Varrick,” Yue responded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Varrick hummed in thought and looked at Yue’s still-damp garments from her tumble into the pond, “Okay. You’ve got a deal pretty lady!” he stuck his hand out and she grasped his small forearm to solidify their pact.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you sure you don’t want to know my name?” she asked him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s another mystery I’m going to solve! But that’s for next round,” He beamed up at her as he started tugging on her hand to bring her towards the exit.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know, if I told you it would be solved.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>cheating </span>
  </em>
  <span> because you already </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span>
  </em>
  <span> your name, and you can’t play detective on something you already know!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I apologize, I’m still new with these rules,” She smiled down at the young boy, “I have another question for you Varrick.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He kept walking but turned his head to look at her, Yue had to scoot him out of the way of the wall he was about to walk into and towards the exit of the oasis. “What is it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How did you know about the Spirit Oasis?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Varrick slows down a bit and his eyes lose a bit of their cheerfulness.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This is where dad goes whenever we visit here from the South Pole. He told me he comes here to say hi to his friend that he misses. Sometimes he takes me here too when I miss mommy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yue feels her heart crack a bit in sympathy for the boy. The words South Pole add another clue to the mystery she’s trying to solve on her own, and it’s getting harder to ignore the possibility of the water tribe warrior she knew as Varrick’s father, but right now she decides not to focus on that. She’s about to respond with something comforting, but Varrick quickly reverts to his usual self and exclaims: “C’mon you can come see my room!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yue laughs at the child’s antics before he leads her through the passage that enters directly into the palace. At least he no longer seems angry at his father.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She feels her anxiety spike as she realises she probably hasn’t been home in years.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She steels herself and holds her chin high as she had been raised to do and takes the first step inside.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And for a moment she forgets that the only people outside of her family that knew about the Spirit Oasis before she became the moon were Sokka, Aang, and Katara.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka and Katara had informed Arnook about Varrick’s disappearance, and Arnook promised to alert his guards to be on the lookout for him. Sokka decides that he should try checking Varrick’s room one more time just in case he came back already.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The siblings return to Varrick’s room and search for him again before they hear Varricks voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Dad!! Where are my mittens?” He asks as he runs through the door to his room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A wave of relief washes over Sokka as he picks his son up and holds him tight to his chest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh thank Tui and La you’re alright son.” He leans Varrick away from his chest to look him in the eyes, “Varrick I’m so sorry for shouting at you earlier, I didn’t mean to but please never run off like that again okay bud? You had me and Aunt Katara worried sick.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Varrick either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care about the complete distress he put his poor father through as he begins babbling on about his adventures in running away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I met a lady and she was asleep in the pond in the spirit garden thingy and she’s wearing weird clothes and she played detective with me and now we need to find my mittens before we can start another round of detective! Next round we need to find better clothes for her to wear because she’s gonna get cold!” He rambles at rapid fire pace.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Slow down, Var,” Sokka says as he puts his son back down, “Is this, random lady still here? Do you even know her name? Varrick you need to be more careful with strangers but I’m glad she brought you home okay”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah! She’s right outside, but she was looking at the door funny so I came inside without her. I don’t know her name because I was saving it for another round of detective. I’ll go get her!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As Varrick drags Yue through her childhood home he talks about his family. His Aunt Katara and Uncle Aang specifically. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Aunt Katara and Uncle Aang.</span>
  </em>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>The final clue falls into place, and just like that she’s solved her first mystery.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yue thinks she’s going to pass out again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This is </span>
  <em>
    <span>Sokka’s son.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka has a son. A five-and-a-half year old son. He is old enough to have children. Yue saw her reflection in the pond and swore that she looked older, but apparently more time has passed since she thought. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She is terrified of what’s going to happen when she faces him again. She has no idea what to expect from him. She hopes he’ll be happy to see her, no she </span>
  <em>
    <span>knows</span>
  </em>
  <span> he’ll be happy to see her. Katara and Aang as well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And yet, she still feels nervous.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why are you still outside? Come </span>
  <em>
    <span>inside</span>
  </em>
  <span>! My dad will help you find some warm clothes!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tugs on her arm to pull her inside of the room, and her sights confirm what she had been thinking the entire time she had known Varrick. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Maybe I am good at this detective game</span>
  </em>
  <span> she thought to herself. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All the clues led her to him.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>updates every friday!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. and you reached out your hand for me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Yue faces Sokka.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey friends welcome back to a new chapter!! I really like how this one turned out, I wanted to make it even longer, but I felt like keeping it kind of short worked really well for this. Longer chapters are coming though! We're still in the exposition stage of this bad boy. </p><p>Enjoy!</p><p>(chapter title from “Seven Wonders”<br/>by Fleetwood Mac)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Standing in front of her is Sokka. He’s clearly older, with a slight shadow of stubble on his strong chin. His jaw is more defined and his hair has grown longer, with two braids framing his face while the rest is pulled back in his signature wolf-tail. He’s nearly a whole head taller than her now, and despite wearing his thick anorak, she can tell that he is no longer the same lanky teenage boy who asked her if she wanted to do an activity.</p><p>She meets his eyes and they are the same piercing blue that she remembers staring into under the moonlight on the bridge when she first kissed him, but they no longer hold their light. The glint of life and energy that she always found when he looked at her was gone. Instead the look in his eyes is something more unreadable, something that could even be interpreted as furious.</p><p>Standing behind Sokka with a more obvious look of rage in her eyes is most definitely Katara. She’s a little bit shorter than Yue, and her hair is done in a similar fashion to what she was wearing when they first met. All in all she doesn’t look as drastically different from her youth as Sokka, except for the fact that she has a pronounced baby belly and a slightly different betrothal necklace around her neck.</p><p>“Hey Varrick,” Katara says in a low tone, “Why don’t you head down to Uncle Aang and I’s rooms and go play with Bumi; he should still be in his room, okay?”</p><p>Varrick, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the room, runs off to whoever Bumi is without a second thought.</p><p>The second the door closes behind them Yue decides to break the silence.</p><p>“Sok-” she says, and Sokka cuts her off before she can greet Katara as well.</p><p>“Who the <em> hell </em> do you think you are coming here like this? <em> Especially </em> today. How <em> dare </em> you disrespect Yue’s memory like this. I don’t know what you’re trying to pull showing up dressed like her, but it is insulting and <em> disgusting </em>,” he bites out on a scathing tongue. Yue is taken back by his tone, but also by the fact that his voice has dropped much lower than she remembers. She misses the light playful tone he used to hold.</p><p>“Sokka, I know this may sound crazy-”</p><p>“How the hell do you know who I am?” He cuts her off, “Is this all a part of some sick joke? Showing up on her anniversary, looking almost exactly like her- do you not understand the severity of disrespect you’re showing her and the spirits by doing this?”</p><p>“Sokka it’s <em> me </em> , <em> I am Yue! </em> ” she raises her voice a little bit, trying to urge as much sincerity into her voice as she can. She realizes now why she was worried to see everyone again, of <em> course </em> they wouldn’t believe it was actually her. She knows what this looks like, especially now that she no longer bears the mark of Tui’s blessing.</p><p>“Oh so now you’re delusional too,” Katara scoffs from behind her, “Do you not understand the consequen-”</p><p>“I promise, I swear, I don’t know how it happened, but I woke up in the exact spot where I made my sacrifice and-”</p><p>Sokka “Katara, make sure she doesn’t go anywhere, I’m finding Arnook and the other Elders so they can deal with this before word gets out of an imposter and ruins the festival.”</p><p>She knows she has to do something quick, she isn’t ready to face her father yet. He’d be more outraged than Sokka, or worse she’d break his heart if he didn’t believe her.</p><p>
  <em> Think. Yue, think. What’s something that only you and Sokka know about? </em>
</p><p>A memory flashes quickly in her mind. 11 days into the Avatar’s visit to her home she snuck out to find Sokka and saw him alone at the bridge. They sat together and ate snacks she stole from the kitchens and talked about everything and nothing at all.</p><p>~~~</p><p>
  <em> Yue creeped out of her bedroom and snuck down to the kitchens. The halls in the palace were dimly lit and there were only two guards at the end of the hall, slumped against the walls asleep. She knew that if her father found out about them resting on the job that he would be furious, but she was relieved to see that her escape into the night would be made easier by them.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> The kitchens were in the same wing of the palace as her bedroom, and she quickly snuck in to grab a small basket, and filled it with moon peaches and seal jerky - her two favorite snacks.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Once her basket was ready, she pulled her hood over her head and carefully made her way outside, and to not be seen by the waterbenders positioned around the perimeter of the palace who were still awake. By this point she had memorized their walking routines - after all she had been sneaking out almost daily even before Sokka and his friends arrived. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> The palace always felt too stifling to Yue. Her father loved her, and she loved him, but she couldn’t help but feel like he still saw her as the stillborn baby who had to be saved by the moon; this fragile thing that would break the second she had even an ounce of freedom. So, she snuck out. She snuck out of the place where all she was allowed to do was study and weave and study some more. She snuck out of the place where the Elders planned her engagement without any regard to how she felt about the situation. She snuck away from the place where she felt trapped in her role, and she went to a place where she no longer had to be Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe, but just - Yue. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Recently, her list of reasons for sneaking out had grown.  </em>
</p><p><em> Every night for the past week, Yue would sneak out in hopes of bumping into Sokka. Sometimes she’d find him whipping his boomerang through the air, or laying on the bridge and staring at the stars. Sometimes he wouldn’t be out at all; on those nights Yue felt a pang of disappointment. But every time she saw him she pretended that she was just out for a nightly stroll and </em> not <em> actively hoping to bump into him. She thought it was cute how surprised he got each time he saw her. </em></p><p>
  <em> Tonight however, she heard him before she saw him.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> As Yue strolled through the center of Agna Qe’la with a basket of moon peaches and seal jerky on her arm, she heard a soft voice coming from the direction of one of the canal bridges. She walked slowly and silently through the crystal buildings </em>
</p><p>
  <em> It was warm and sweet sounding, carrying a bittersweet tune softly, as if not wanting to be overheard. The melody was simple and she couldn’t quite make out the lyrics, but she felt like an intruder to such a melancholy voice. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> She followed the voice and was surprised to see that the soothing sound was coming from Sokka, who was sitting on the railing of the bridge.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Sokka?” she said, “What are you doing out here?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Sokka stopped singing and whipped his head around as Yue spoke. He was so shocked that he almost fell off of the bridge, but Yue reached an arm out to steady him before he took yet another swim in the canal. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Thanks, Yue,” Sokka said. He seemed a bit… off. He was still smiling that dopey smile of his at her, but there was something a little bit broken behind his eyes. She waited to second to see if he would say anything else, but instead he just looked down into his lap at his hands. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Yue had only seen Sokka as this loud, funny, and awkward entity that made her smile and saw her as something other than “Princess” Yue. She was a little off-put by how calmed he seemed. She placed the basket next to Sokka on the bridge, before climbing up and seating herself next to it. She opened her basket and handed some of the seal jerky to Sokka, who’s face lit up minutely before smiling and stuffing a few pieces in his mouth. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “What are you doing out here?” She asked before taking a bite of a moon peach. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Oh, uh- umm, nothing, really,” he stammered, “it’s just uh, I had to get away from, uh, Aang and Katara from a little bit…” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Yue didn’t want to pry, but Sokka was acting slightly different than she was used to. She didn’t know him well enough yet to know if him needing time away and being quiet like this was normal or not, and her curiosity got the best of her. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Do you want to talk about it?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> He stared down at his seal jerky for a second before looking up to the sky again. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I’ve never told anyone about this before, so can you promise not to tell anyone?” he told her. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> She smiled back and said, “Promise.”</em>
</p><p>~~~</p><p>She didn’t know if it would matter to him that Katara was still in the room, but she had to relay that memory to him to prove it was her.</p><p>“Wait! When you first visited the North Pole, on the eleventh day of your trip you snuck out to get be alone for a bit, but I found you on the bridge. We sat there and ate moon peaches and seal jerky and you made me promise not to tell anyone what we talked about that night, and I’m sorry for bringing it up again now, but it’s the only way I know you’ll listen to me.” </p><p>She paused, waiting for Sokka to respond. Waiting to see if he would stop her or if he remembered the night she was talking about yet. </p><p>But he stood there, his expression still stony and angry and suspicious, yet he made no effort to deter her from speaking. </p><p>“You told me that at night you would sometimes sneak away from Aang and Katara so that you could sing some of your mom’s old lullabies to herself because you missed her voice, and you felt like singing was the last thing you had to remember her by. You said you did it because even when you couldn’t remember her face you could still hear her voice,” she watches his face change from anger to shock as she continues to talk, “I asked you why you never sang for Katara. I knew you had a deeper reasoning for it, but you just joked and said it was because you thought you had a bad voice. Yet, for some reason you sang to me anyways,” his eyes turn glassy and his mouth is slightly agape, “and you had the most beautiful singing voice I had ever heard.”</p><p>She pauses and waits for his reaction, but he is staring at her in stunned silence. </p><p>Katare is the first to make another move, “Sokka, is that… is that true?” her voice is small and her eyes flit between him and Yue as she waits for his reaction.</p><p>~~~</p><p>Sokka stares at the woman in front of him. He knows he should say something. </p><p>But what is there to say when your first love comes back from the dead?</p><p>For the first time since Varrick brought her into the room he takes her in. He sometimes imagined what she’d look like if she’d ever had the chance to grow up like she deserved. She seems to have aged the same as the rest of the gang had, less baby fat clinging to her cheeks. </p><p>But her eyes were still as crystal blue as he remembered, they had reflected every star in the night sky when they snuck out together with such clarity and beauty; the beauty is still there, timeless and unchanging, but the clarity is gone. The soft lines of her face were pinched in a worried expression, but every bit as beautiful as her remembered her to be, perhaps even more so. She was indeed wearing the outfit she had one when she and the moon spirit became one, and Hahn’s betrothal necklace still sat on her throat. </p><p>The only difference to the images of her he conjured in his mind was that instead of her stark-white hair, it was now a deep brown shade, almost black like the night sky where she used to reside.</p><p>“It’s true,” he said in a voice almost as quiet as a whisper. He took a tentative step forward and slowly went to place his hands on her shoulders, afraid that when he went to touch her that she’d pass right through his fingers as she had 10 years earlier.</p><p>The moment his hands met her shoulder the contact stayed.</p><p><em> “Yue.” </em>  he gasped.</p><p>She was real, she wasn’t a hallucination, she was alive.</p><p>She was <em> here. </em></p><p>He let out a shaky breath and engulfed her in an embrace. </p><p>“It’s really you,” he could feel the tears well up in his eyes, and there was nothing he could do to stop them from flowing. He never even imagined being able to see her again. But here she was. He felt her start to cry into his shoulder as well. The two of them ended up falling to a kneel as they held each other. </p><p>Yue held on out of relief. </p><p>Sokka held on out of fear that if he let go she’d disappear again.</p><p>“It’s really me.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Life is getting a tad hectic so there is a small chance that next weeks chapter might be coming a little later than normal, but I'll try my best to stick to the same schedule of posting every friday. </p><p>love you all &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. I walk a thin line</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sokka leaves, Katara processes, and Zuko gets a little too drunk.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi friends! I apologize for such a long wait for this chapter, life got a lil crazy but hopefully I'll be able to get back to a regular posting schedule soon.</p>
<p>disclaimer: zuko is not a drunk and will not be like this in every chapter, so if he seems a little ooc it's because i imagine him as being an overly-emotional sappy drunk lol.</p>
<p>enjoy!</p>
<p>(chapter title from "Walk a Fine Line" by Fleetwood Mac)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Neither of them noticed when Katara left the room silently with tears streaming down her face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Neither of them noticed when tears started prickling in their own eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Neither of them noticed how the festival began without them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The pair stayed silent as they held each other, trying to make sense of everything that had just happened to them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The adrenaline of waking up in the oasis, distracting herself from reality with Varrick, and finding Sokka again had run out, and Yue was finally grappling with the fact that she was back. She was exhausted and overwhelmed and all she could do was cry. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>To Yue, it felt as if she gave up her life, her </span>
  <em>
    <span>future</span>
  </em>
  <span>, only yesterday. Despite the obvious fact that years have passed and that her sacrifice to save her people was worth it, she still felt guilty. Guilty, because even from a young age, Yue knew deep down that she would have to give the moon spirit it’s life force back. Even if that feeling was only subconscious, she still knew. And now? She did her job, and that was supposed to be it. There wasn’t supposed to be an after. She gave up any plans for her future when she decided to save Tui. Now what?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>To Sokka, it felt as if he was pulled ten years into the past. He was just a boy with a boomerang trying to impress a pretty girl with white hair again. He was just a kid again, hopeful and optimistic about his future again. For the longest time, Sokka had felt like he was breaking, with more pieces of himself being ripped from him with each passing day. A piece when Yue left, a piece when he broke his leg, a piece when he began taking up chiefly responsibilities with Katara, a piece when Kanna passed, a piece when Varrick was born, a piece when Suki died. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For so long he had been losing more and more of himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But in this moment, he couldn’t help but feel hopeful.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was a sad kind of hope, as hope always is, but it was still hope.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As he held on tight to his old friend, trying to make up for years of lost time, Sokka realized that her clothes were still damp. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sokka I-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did you fall into the pond?” he asked, she pulled back and looked at him with a slightly confused smile, “Sorry, it’s just- your clothes are wet.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looked down at her robes and chuckled lightly. It was a sweet sound.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh right! I kind of woke up in the water and came straight here after Varrick came along,” she said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Came straight here</span>
  </em>
  <span>…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait,” he said, holding her shoulders at arm's length, “have you not seen your father yet?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sheepishly, Yue turned away from him. The same guilty expression falling over her features as it had when he asked her if she stole from the kitchens the night she found him singing on the bridge.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...no. I haven’t, but-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka slipped immediately into plan mode. How would he go about telling Arnook without disrupting the festival? He knew Arnook wouldn’t believe him at first, and he knew that if the guests saw a brown haired woman dressed up as their dead princess they would react exactly how he and Katara had earlier. Yue would need to stay hidden for now. He needed to avoid a commotion for right now, at least until he knew a proper announcement could be made.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Stay here, I’ll go find him,” he said as he made his way towards the door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait Sokka-” Yue started as she stood up from the floor.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll be right back, I’d bring you with me but I don’t want more people freaking out like Katara and I did. For now you need to stay hidden,” he said as he left the room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And with that he darted down the corridor to find the Chief and tell him his daughter was alive.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara left the room very soon after Varrick and followed him towards her and Aang’s suite.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She watched the young boy as he darted through the halls of the palace 30 feet ahead of her, oblivious to the way his childish antics of the night had likely just changed his father’s life forever.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Varrick turned around as he skipped and twirled wildly down the corridor, spotting Katara behind him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Aunt Katara! Are you coming to play detectives with me and Bumi?” he asked with a grin on his face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Despite being as stubborn and loud as Sokka was when he was a child, Katara knew his childlike wonder for play had come from Suki. Sokka was always so serious when they were kids, always wanting to go to warrior training instead of throwing snowballs, always trying to be more grown up than he was. Katara’s mind drifted towards the time they spent on Ember Island, and how Suki was the only one who could convince Sokka to stop planning and let loose a little bit. She thought of how when the two of them were planning their wedding, Suki would always drag Sokka away on spontaneous vacations to take a break from the stress; and how when Katara tried to do the same thing it only made him more stressed out. After the war, Sokka still had trouble grappling with the fact that he didn’t have to fight anymore, and how Suki didn’t stop him from training, but made sure that whenever he trained with her that he’d always leave laughing and smiling, as childlike and free as he never got to be. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sokka had always been like that, even before the war forced him to become a man too soon. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Varrick never had to be anything other than a kid.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As she watched Bumi skip and spin down the corridor, he noticed that she was behind him and his face lit up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Aunt Katara! Are you coming to play with me and Bumi?” he smiled as he ran to walk next to Katara.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Actually, Bumi, me and the baby are getting a little tired,” she lied and placed a hand on her stomach; she had too many thoughts running through her head to be tired, “so I think I’m going to take a little nap before the ceremony begins, but I promise that once I get down there I’ll find you two okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Varrick seemed pleased with her answer and grabbed her hand as they walked the rest of the way to her chambers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once they got inside, she saw her husband sitting on their bed as he helped their 8 year-old son finish getting ready. Aang was currently trying- and failing- to tame Bumi’s wild hair into a traditional warrior’s wolf tail (he had been going through a phase where he wanted to be just like “cool Uncle Sokka,” which annoyed Katara greatly, she was just as cool as him.) </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi Mom,” Bumi smiled at her as she entered, “What’s Varrick doing here?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At the mention of his name Varrick plopped himself in front of Bumi and started talking about his detective game with Yue.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Spirits, just thinking about it gave her a headache.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The two boys began chatting away as Katara sat down next to Aang.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang hadn’t looked up from where he was focused on Bumi’s hair but he noticed when the two of them entered, “Hey Sweetie, would you mind helping me fix Bumi’s hair? You know I suck at this considering I have none,” He laughed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang looked over at Katara, and her emotions must have shown on her face because immediately his soft grin fell into a more concerned look.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is everything alright?” he asked as Katara started fiddling with Bumi’s hair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, everything is fine, but-” she took a deep breath to steady her thoughts, “a lot just-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Take your time, sweetie,” Aang said as he pressed a kiss to her temple, “do you want me to take the boys down to the party and give you a minute to breathe?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She felt her bottom lip start to tremble as she looked over at her kind, wonderful, understanding husband and nodded. He always knew exactly when she needed a break from everything.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright you can tell me all about whatever's going on later and I’m sure some alone time will help calm you down, yeah?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara nodded again, “Will you- will you come back after you take them down? I think I do need a minute alone, but I also really need someone to talk to too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang squeezed her hand and pressed another kiss to her temple, “Of course.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He got up from the bed and clapped his hands together, “alright you two, ready to head down to the party?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The boys cheered and darted from the room, Aang following them and leaving Katara with a quick “I’ll see you soon,” before leaving as well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As her boys retreated Katara slumped down onto the soft bedding and curled up against her pillows. She wanted to cry but nothing was coming out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yue was her friend too. She knew that Sokka was more upset about her death than anyone, but she still had her sorrows too. She was struggling to wrap her head around the fact that her first female friend her age had suddenly returned from her place among the stars. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What would this mean for the North? Obviously they would probably be overjoyed at the news of their Princess returning to them, but would they force her to marry Hahn still? Hahn was still a bachelor, and Arnook still held him in high regard, with talks of him becoming the next chief already in effect.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What would this mean for Sokka? He had spent so long grieving her, and she knew that he never stopped loving her. She knew that Sokka was still fragile over Suki’s death too. Would this give him unreasonable hope that the spirits would return her to him as well? No, that’s just illogical, Sokka barely believes in “spirit mambo-jumbo” as it is. How would he feel about all of this? Would the sheer insanity of a long lost friend drive him to his breaking point? Katara really wasn’t sure that Sokka was in the right mental state to handle all of this…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And what about Yue? She must be so confused right now. Had she seen her father yet? Does she even know that the war was over? What would this mean for her future? She hoped that they wouldn’t force her to marry Hahn, she knew how miserable that had made Yue. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But despite all of this she still had hope for Yue. She could maybe travel the world now, experience everything she never had the chance to do. She had a second chance, and for that Katara was grateful.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After laying down on the plush furs of her bed for a while, she heard Aang creep back into the room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He laid down next to Katara and began to brush his fingers through her hair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How are you feeling?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Drained, exhausted, confused, tired, but still a little bit better than earlier.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He smiled at her, “That’s good, some rest and reflection is always good. Do you want to talk about it now?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara shuffled closer and Aang wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’ll never believe what just happened…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Firelord Zuko is a serious man. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He is punctual. He is precise. He wakes up every morning with the rising sun, and meditates as Agni’s rays drift higher into the sky. The minute Firelady Mai wakes up, they eat breakfast together and stroll through Ursa’s gardens and feed the turtle ducks, and at exactly 9 in the morning he gets to work. He sits through meetings discussing education, taxes, tariffs, trade, and other domestic affairs all morning until noon. At noon, he takes an hour to eat lunch with Mai in their private dining room, where they relax and unwind a bit before the afternoon begins. Every day he kisses Mai goodbye as she heads off to her own afternoon meeting, before heading off to an afternoon filled with nothing but meeting after meeting after meeting with foreign ambassadors to continue restoration and reparation projects. Firelord Zuko and Firelady Mai have brought forth tremendous amounts of progress towards World Peace in the past 5 years, because when Firelord Zuko says he is serious about ushering an era of peace and kindness, he means business. He takes dinner with Mai in their private dining room each night at 7 o’candle, spends another hour or two on paperwork, and then spends the rest of the evening with his wife. Every day is exhausting, but with Mai by his side he never feels the need to complain about a thing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Still, Firelord Zuko is a serious man.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So when it comes time to party, Firelord Zuko goes wild.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Despite the official ceremony for Yue’s Festival beginning until the moon was highest, the Northern Water Tribe had smaller festivities going on all day. Said festivities involved carnival games, waterbending displays, storytelling, and of course: alcohol.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Zuko was much too polite to turn down any server who offered him something to drink.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was currently standing with Mai, Toph, and Ty Lee near one of the waterbending displays, all at various levels of drunkenness. Despite all beginning at noon, Zuko (the lightweight of the group) was already feeling very wobbly, while Mai (who had drank just as much) was the picture of composure, but Zuko knew his wife well enough to tell that her slight smile was a sure-fire sign that she was feeling pretty tipsy as well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, wasn’t Snoozles supposed to give an opening speech like, 20 minutes ago? Where is that knucklehead?” Toph said, interrupting Ty Lee’s tale of the time she accidentally chi-blocked her sister when she thought it was an assassin.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That is kind of strange, he’s never late for anything,” Mai piped up from besides Zuko.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He’s probably trying to get Varrick ready or something, you all know how hard it is to get that kid to sit still for more than five minutes,” Zuko added, “Well, I think it’s time for more,” </span>
  <em>
    <span>hiccup</span>
  </em>
  <span>, “drinks. Who wants shots?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Zuko, honey, do you really need more alcohol? I think you’ve caused enough of a scene earlier with your impromptu rainbow fire demonstration earlier. You nearly burnt off Hakoda’s beard,” his lovely, lovely- </span>
  <em>
    <span>wow did she get more beautiful?-</span>
  </em>
  <span> wife said from beside him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m fine Mai, and Hakoda loves my rainbow fire,” he said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If you’re sure, just be careful alright? We don’t want another Earth Rumble XII incident,” Mai said with a playful smirk on her face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oh man, Earth Rumble XII was probably the most fun Zuko had ever had.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And the worst hangover.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Following a chorus of yes’s, Zuko removed his arm from around Mai and began to wander over to the nearest server. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All of a sudden two mops of wild brown hair flew past him, nearly knocking him over, followed by-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bumi! Varrick! Watch where you’re going!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko looked at the man shouting to see-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Holy shit.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“AANG! Buddy it’s so good to see you man. I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages! Hey, hey, hey, we should do the </span>
  <em>
    <span>dragon dance</span>
  </em>
  <span> tonight huh? I remember that like it was yesterday. Wow I really haven’t seen you in ages buddy! How are you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wow, you are really drunk right now Zuko. I literally saw you yesterday, and you </span>
  <em>
    <span>never</span>
  </em>
  <span> wanna do the dragon dance with me,” Aang laughed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko began to walk over to the server once more and continued chatting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Really? Huh, well I’m gonna get some more alcohol for me and the ladies and-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko stumbled over something (it was his own feet, but he couldn’t tell), and realized Mai was probably right. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang came over to steady him, Mai following soon after.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think you might need to head back to our room, love,” Mai said as Zuko righted himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think you might be right,” He responded, “You’re so pretty Mai. Have I ever told you that? Like really really gorgeous.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mai began to hook her arm through his, and a wave of guilt crashed over him. He didn’t want to ruin her fun, and he would be fine making it back to the rooms himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You may have mentioned it once or twice,” she replied.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m gonna marry you one day Mai, just you wait.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Zuko we’ve been married for five years.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko turned to her with wide, almost teary eyes, “Really? That’s so beautiful.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright you sap, I’m taking you back to our room and you are going to sober up and go to sleep.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, no you stay here,” she raised her eyebrow at him, “I’ll be fiiine, Mai, go have fun and tell me if Sokka messes up his speech so I can bully him,” He said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you sure you’ll be fine to go back on your own?” She asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, If I need help I’ll find a guard or something, I love you,” he said as he placed a sloppy kiss on her cheek.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yep, definitely drunk, you hate PDA,” Mai muttered to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I do not,” he whined, but with that he started off to his room, only bumping into a few people on the way.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The further Zuko got from the party, the darker the halls got. He lit a small flame in his hand and realized that maybe he should’ve let Mai walk him back, but he’d be fine, he’d done this before. He’d just find a guard or a palace staffer and get them to help him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked everywhere but he was all alone in the corridor. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He walked into another wall, and grimaced as pain shot through his arm.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Still stumbling, he tried to sneak through the palace as quietly as he could while trying not to knock over any more of the decorative spears that lined the walls, until a woman in surprisingly nice clothes and long black hair poked her head out of a room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Perfect! She’s probably a dignitary or something, maybe she could help him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey you!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yue was panicking. She couldn’t face her dad. Not now, not yet. But Sokka was already gone and she never had the chance to ask him to stop, but he told her to stay put, and as much as she didn’t want to, she did. He was right after all, who knows how badly other people would react to seeing her considering how Sokka and Katara reacted earlier.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She paced the room thinking of what to say to her father when Sokka got back with him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m sorry for failing to protect our people.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m sorry for leaving you.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m sorry for never saying goodbye.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She had failed them after all. She gave up her life to save the moon spirit and now she was back. Sure, Sokka was relieved to see her, but what does that say about Yue? Not good enough to watch over her people anymore? What if the Fire Nation tried again? What if they tried to kill Tui once more? Yue no longer had the blessing, she couldn’t save them now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her shame spiral was interrupted by a crash down the hall. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Had Sokka come back?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She stayed silent and listened for more noise, Sokka’s voice, her father’s voice, but there was nothing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Another crash.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Carefully Yue grabbed a spear that was hanging on the wall of Sokka’s room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She poked her head out of the doorway and saw what she feared most.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey you!” he shouted at her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His hand was ablaze, and his strides were becoming quicker and erratic. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She knew that face anywhere. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was older of course, and his hair was no longer shaved to the skin with a pony tail remaining, but the scar was the same. The golden eyes filled with anger were still the same. The disgusting snarl on his face was still the same.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Prince Zuko had invaded the Northern Water Tribe again. And Yue was not about to let him succeed. She may have failed as the moon spirit, but she would not fail again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She stepped out of the room, spear in hand, and charged.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>now we're cooking with gas. This chapter is kinda messy in my opinion, but I'm also pretty happy with the way it turned up and now we're finally starting to get to the good stuff so YAY!</p>
<p>i'm gonna try to get back to posting every friday but we'll see how that goes hehe.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thanks for reading! tumblr: hello-yue-here</p></blockquote></div></div>
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